Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, told Newsmax on Friday that there should be no concerns the administration's plans for tariffs on imported goods from China, Canada, and Mexico would be inflationary.
"It's silly, silly rhetoric," Navarro told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "Tariffs are absolutely not inflationary. How do we know that? Because Donald Trump instituted the most aggressive tariffs on China steel, aluminum, dishwashers, solar panels. We had zero, zero. We've done it before.
"There's about 10 reasons why, but the biggest reason is producers, foreign producers, bear the brunt of them."
Trump reportedly has vowed to hit the European Union with tariffs and said his administration was discussing a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports because fentanyl is being sent from China to the U.S. He also has said he was considering imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico unless they clamped down on the trafficking of illegal immigrants and fentanyl, including precursor chemicals from China, across their borders with the U.S.
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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